Former Mcdonalds Employee Takes Video of Mouse Stuck in Bag of Burger Buns

A former McDonald’s employee has come forward with footage he’d taken last fall inside of a storage room. The video, taken by a cellphone on Nov. 14, 2011, shows a mouse poking his way around inside a bag of Big Mac buns.

Karruim Demaio, 29, said he was so disturbed by the events he had witnessed while on the job that he wanted to come forward to warn others.

“That wasn’t the first time. That was about the sixth or seventh time. That’s what made me like, I got to get video of this,” said Demaio told Fox 29 Philadelphia.

The McDonald’s, located at Stenton Avenue at Haines, in West Oak Lane, Philadelphia, shows a small mouse foraging through the inside of a plastic bag with several buns inside.

“I was going back there to get something else and I heard some rustling, so I turned around, and I look, I seen a mouse inside the bread. Not on top of the package, but inside of the package,” he said.

Watching the video, which comes across as blurry and shaky, but you can clearly see a mouse poking in and around the buns inside the bag. At one point towards the end of the video, you can clearly see the rear end of the mouse, along with its tail, lying on the bun before the mouse scurries back down.

Demaio said it was common to find mouse droppings on buns and that his manager would instruct the workers to simply brush the droppings off prior to serving the bread.

“I was working there from October of 2010 to January of this year. There hasn’t been a time when we couldn’t go in the back and see mouse droppings on the bread,” Demaio said.

Fox 29 asked others about the presence of mice coming into contact with the buns. One former employee, who did not identify himself, concurred with Demaio about the mouse incident.

The news agency contacted the owner/operator of the Stenton Avenue McDonald’s, Ken Youngblood, who sent out a statement which said, “After viewing the video, we are going to continue to investigate this claim to make certain we have all the facts. I want my customers to know that I am taking this matter seriously and will immediately address any issues that may exist. Therefore, if necessary, we will work with the appropriate authorities to get the facts.”

Demaio told Fox 29 he has worked at three McDonald’s total, however this is the only restaurant where he saw any evidence of mice.

According to the Philadelphia Health Department, that particular McDonald’s has had five health violations that date back over a year and currently “is not in satisfactory compliance.”

Other violations inspectors found included live flies in food preparation areas, salads and salad fixings not kept cool enough, and no hand soap near a grill area. Additionally the inspection found malfunctioning refrigeration units. According to a search done on the Health Department’s inspection page, the freezer door was propped open in order to help cool down the walk-in refrigerator. However, health inspectors do not have any evidence of rodents listed.

The video footage taken by Demaio can be viewed at the Fox 29 website.